


remembrance

by gsnunag256



Category: The Legend of Zelda & Related Fandoms, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, F/M, Family, Hylia is a Bastard, Link-centric, Takes place in BoTW Hyrule
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-17
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-15 04:21:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28807224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gsnunag256/pseuds/gsnunag256
Summary: Thousands of years following the events of Breath of the Wild, a new Link is born into a world where Demise's curse has been broken. The Spirit of the Hero rests uneasy, even in an era of peace.orLink and Zelda remember.
Relationships: Link/Zelda (Legend of Zelda)
Kudos: 28





	1. glassy sky

**Author's Note:**

> i have another zelda work posted here, and while you don't need to read it before this, there is one small line that directly references that work. regardless, this has been sitting in the back burner for a year, but i hope you enjoy!

“Link…” Link heard a familiar voice call his name. 

“Link… Open your eyes…” The voice called out to him again.

“LINK!” He was jabbed in the side, and he shot up instantly. The blood overflowed into his head, making him dizzy.

“The sun came up ages ago!” It was his litter sister, Aryll. Her normally long, blonde hair was now put up in a neat bun, and her sea blue eyes shone in the beams of light peeking through Link’s window. For a short 14 year old girl, she was deceptively strong. 

“Come on! We should go now before it gets too crowded!”

Right. They were going to Castle Town to buy groceries. In a best-case scenario, the trip from Hateno to Castle Town was less than 2 hours. Considering how high up the sun was, however, Link knew it was going to be crowded anyway.

“Where’s father?” Link asked.

“He’s outside getting Epona ready."

Epona… He had bought that horse 2 years ago from Mabe Ranch. Something from inside him compelled Link to name her Epona, yet he felt… unworthy of owning a horse with that name. It was like pointing at a statue of the Goddess and deciding it was Hylia in human form.

“Link? Liiiiink,” Aryll cried. “Get ready!”

Link pushed Aryll out of his room so he could change. He struggled deciding between different outfits, so he settled on his comfort choice, a humble green tunic and a matching hat, which was long and came down to a point. His sister always teased him for looking stupid, but he didn’t care.

Link looked at himself in the mirror. Every time he wore this, it felt undeniably... _his_ despite having bought it mere years ago at Castle Town. But, for whatever reason, it just felt right to wear this, and he couldn’t explain why.

Finally emerging from his room, Link ran downstairs to the kitchen and slung an empty sack over his shoulder for the groceries. He also grabbed a pot full of a few hundred rupees. He found such a method of carrying currency comedic even though it wasn't funny to anyone else.

After checking his person once more, Link went outside. The light blinded him for a second, causing him to block out the sun with the back of his hand. Link shuddered.

“Come on, Link!” Aryll called from behind their father, Arn. She always rode with him. It was funny to see their size difference; Arn was a very tall, bulky man who wore a bandana, while Aryll was short, skinny, and showed off her hair. “Feed Epona a carrot before we go.”

Link fetched a carrot from their yard, washed it off, and fed it to Epona. She looked ready to go. 

“Ready, boy?” Arn called out to him. Link nodded. “Then let’s go.”

XXXXXXXXXXXX

“Why do you always wear that stupid hat, big brother?”

Despite saying it sarcastically, Aryll calling Link “big brother” caused him to both shudder and warmed his heart in a weird way. Link only responded by rolling his eyes. She would never understand that it just felt right to wear it, like how she would never understand that it felt right to see her wear that blue dress with a hibiscus print.

Link gave her a sour look as the family walked through Castle Town. When they reached the town square, Arn took out his shopping list and looked it over. Link set the rupee pot down for a second to rest his arms, and he saw Aryll staring dumbfoundedly at an antique store.

He let out a sigh. Aryll had seen a telescope through the display window during their last grocery trip, and ever since, she kept going on and on about astronomy and how she wanted to watch the stars at night.

Arn noticed Aryll gawking at the telescope and let out a chuckle.

“Link,” Arn said with a grin, “How about you take your sister and buy that new telescope. The one she won’t shut up about.” 

Aryll gasped loudly. “Really, father?!” she asked with such excitement. He nodded and left, laughing lightly to himself. “Oh, thank you! Thank you!” She wore a massive smile as she turned to Link.

“Let’s go buy that telescope!” Aryll exclaimed. “ _Big brother_ ,” she added with a smug grin.

Link rolled his eyes. “First of all," he said, "stop calling me that.” Although he sometimes found it nice to hear, Aryll saying “big brother” still made Link cringe. “We’re going now.”

He started walking away as Aryll snorted.

“And what about second of all?” she added with the same smugness.

Link paused for a second before rolling his eyes once more and walking away. Aryll let out a laugh.

XXXXXXXXXXXX

The antique store was near the center of Castle Town, allowing Link to see the sheer amount of people present today. It was unusually crowded for seemingly no reason.

The town square seemed to house a crowd that gathered around the central fountain. Was something important about to happen or was this just bad luck?

Just as Aryll had finished purchasing her telescope and handing Link the rupee pot, trumpets started playing faintly in the direction of the castle. Both siblings perked up, looking for the source of the noise.

'The King’s fanfare?' Link thought as he shuddered. The fanfare of the royal family was known to all throughout Hyrule but hearing it in Castle Town, played by the royal band, caused Link’s shoulders to stiffen.

Link stood on a chair to get a better view of the event, clutching the rupee pot unnaturally tight. The castle gates were still closed, despite being able to hear the fanfare earlier.

“Link,” he called. Link snapped back to reality and looked at his father. “Would you like a closer view of the event?”

Link nodded a little too excitedly, as if he were a child meeting the King for the first time. To be fair, despite being 16, this was the first time Link were to see the King in person.

Arn led them to a spot near the fountain, close enough to where they could see clearly, but still a good distance away from the crowd. They waited there for a few minutes before the castle gates opened with an accompanying percussion roll. The brass band that followed the king played the fanfare, causing Link’s hairs to stand on end.

He couldn’t quite make out their faces, but Link saw the King and who he assumed was the Princess with the band following them. The royal guard—as well as standard infantry—flanked the royal family on both sides.

“You’ve never seen the King before, right, Link?” Arn said as Link stared in awe of the sight before him.

“No. I haven’t,” he replied, “but he seems so… familiar.”

Arn looked at Link with one eyebrow raised. Link was too distracted by the event to notice, however, so Arn went back to watching the event.

As the King slowly came into vision, the crowd surrounding the fountain grew exponentially. Link tried to move to a better position, but Arn stopped him and told him to wait for the King to speak, as the crowd would stagnate by then.

Soon enough, the King started speaking, and the crowd’s population no longer increased. Arn led his family to an area off to the side where the Princess stood. Again, they stood a ways back, not wanting to mingle so closely with the crowd.

Link got his first good look at the King. He truly did seem familiar to Link. Why was everything so familiar to him even when he had never seen it before? 

Link imagined the King standing in front of a strange golden light in one moment and surrounded by eerie green flames in another. Both were sights that filled him with melancholy.

Link’s eyes eventually wandered to the Princess, who was distractedly looking at her surroundings. She was turned slightly away from him, but even with the limited view of her face, Link thought she was the most beautiful woman he’d ever seen.

But Link shook that thought off immediately. 'To think such things of the Princess is improper, especially considering my position.' Link felt a chill go down his spine after finishing that thought. His heart dropped as though he had held such an opinion of the princess in the past.

He watched as the Princess’ eyes drifted through the crowd. He never got a good look at her face, but he felt his heart squeeze. Link thought he should really stop thinking at all at this point, lest he be publicly shamed for defacing the Princess.

But... he couldn’t help it. Something about the Princess was different. Something just stood out about her. Even among all the other déjà vu experiences he had today, she seemed the most familiar to Link. In a fraction of a second, Link's thoughts were flooded with the Princess—a young girl on the back of a horse, a woman playing a harp, a frog being shoved in his face—and the thoughts kept flowing in like a dam that had just burst. 

He felt… weighed down by the amount of thoughts circling around in his mind. Were these truly just thoughts? They felt too _real_ to be simply figments of his imagination, but it was impossible for these events to have actually occurred. Within the madness in his head, only one thing, no, one name encompassed everything.

“Zelda…” he whispered. He knew that it was the name passed down to all princesses of Hyrule, but as it passed his lips, it brought with it such a weight that Link was scared his knees would give in.

As if on cue, the Princess looked directly at Link, pausing as she made eye contact. Her brows furrowed for a second before her eyes widened and her body froze. 

Suddenly, as the Hero and the Princess locked eyes for the first time, Link remembered. These were not mere thoughts, he realized; these were memories.

That image, the Princess staring at him with scared eyes, caused Link to tremble violently. He’s seen her before. He knows it with certainty. 

Link dropped the rupee pot. It broke with a loud shatter, causing everyone to look at him. Even the King looked at him confusedly. Link could faintly hear his family asking if he was okay.

The Hero and the Princess looked at each other with teary eyes. They remembered. They remembered everything. For the first time in their countless lives, they really, truly remembered. 

And for the first time in their countless incarnations, the Hero ran from his destiny.


	2. katharsis

Link ran. He didn’t know where his destination was. He just ran. As far away from _her_ as possible. 

Through his blurred vision, Link ran through the crowds of Castle Town, shoving them out of the way, ignoring their angry shouts.

In his crazed state, Link could barely hear his family run after him, calling his name. He didn’t care. He only wanted to get away as fast as possible.

As he ran through the gates of Castle Town, he shakily, breathlessly whistled for Epona. As Epona galloped toward him, Link forced his legs to move faster, hoping to meet midway with his horse faster.

Epona halted in front of Link, and he held her reins, gasping for air. After catching his breath, Link mounted his steed and quietly told her to head home. He spoke in a language he had never even heard before, yet he spoke it like his mother tongue. Epona staggered in confusion at Link’s words.

“Uh. Uh… Home. Please,” Link said shakily. Was he so far gone that he was incapable of speech?

He hoped Epona would take him to his current home, not the many homes he inhabited in his past lives. But ff course Epona would take him to Hateno, for this was not the steed he once knew; she was only named after her.

The rest of Link’s journey home was a blur. He wasn’t sure if he was going in and out of consciousness, or if he was just losing his mind.

The second they crossed the bridge in front of his house, Link threw himself off Epona and rummaged his pockets for the house key. He fumbled about with the keyring before finding the proper key. As his shaky hand opened the door, memories of loud, creaking dungeon doors flooded his mind, and Link’s vision became blurry once more. When he finally managed to unlock the door, he threw it open before slamming it shut as he ran for the stairs. He stumbled into his room and collapsed at the foot of his bed.

Link sobbed. He cried and wrestled around in his blanket with reckless abandon. What was he but a meaningless soul? Whichever way he looked at it, Link thought of himself as accursed. His birth must mark the return of evil, right? But if it didn’t, then he was just a mistake, a soul bound to no purpose. Was Hylia fucking with him? Was he nothing but a laughingstock for the Goddess that he once loved in the distant past?

Link's cries became louder and harsher. He swore at the Goddess through the lump in his throat. The once courageous, valiant Hero was now reduced to a broken shell of a man. 

XXXXXXXXXXXX

Arn spurred his horse forward. Faster. Faster! He needed to know Link was okay. He needed to know that this wasn’t some sick joke that his son was playing on him.

He wasn’t sure where Link had fled, but he had a strong feeling that he ran home. 'He probably didn’t know anywhere else to go,' Arn tried reassuring himself. 'He must have gone home.'

Behind him, Aryll was crying. She shook violently as she clutched onto her father’s torso, and Arn could feel the tears burning in his eyes. Seeing his brave, young boy break down in tears made his heart shatter more than anything he’d ever experienced.

As they approached their house, Arn saw Epona in front of the house. 'Thank Hylia,' he thought, closing his eyes with a sigh. He quickly dismounted his horse and helped Aryll down. 

The two of them quickly ran inside their home. The door was left unlocked. As they neared the stairs, Arn gestured for Aryll to be quiet.

They slowly approached Link’s shut door. Arn heard broken, muffled sobs from the other side of the door, and his heart shattered. His son was broken, and there was little he could do to help. 

He could hear Aryll choking back sobs of her own. He brought her into a tight hug both to reassure his daughter and reassure himself. As he squeezed his daughter, Arn felt hot tears run down his cheeks. The man who hadn’t cried since his wife’s death 14 years ago was now trying his damnedest to hold back a sob.

Arn knew that this day would come. Hylia had told his wife what was to become of their children. The reincarnation of the Hero, and a daughter who resembled that of the Hero of Wind's own sister.

For years, Arn thought that Link would find out the “right way” and rise up to his destiny courageously as the past Heroes had done. What he did not expect was to find his son, the embodiment of courage itself, to be breaking down, alone in his room, crying to the Gods for a purpose.

After some time had passed, Arn steeled himself and knocked gently at Link’s door. He heard a gasp, and Link stopped sobbing.

“Link,” Arn said carefully, “Can I come in?”

There was a pause, and Arn took Aryll’s hand. Before he could take Aryll to her room, Link responded.

“Y- yes,” he said dryly.

Arn opened Link’s door slowly. He peered inside and started tearing up once more. Link was a mess. Dried tears stained his face with grey stripes, his hair looked like it had been pulled, he was wrapped messily in his blanket, and his hat and tunic were ripped off his body and thrown onto the floor. They were crumpled and littered with black boot prints.

Arn cautiously approached his son, who was shaking on the floor. Aryll looked at him for the first time and immediately broke out into a sob. Arn squeezed her hand in an attempt to soothe her, the floor becoming dotted with her tears.

Link's eyes widened as he looked up at Aryll. After a pause, he slowly reached his arms out, silently asking to hold his sister. Arn let go of Aryll’s hand, and she ran to Link. She held her brother tight and cried into his shirt.

The three of them stayed like that for a moment before Arn broke the silence.

“You…” Arn spoke hesitantly. He was cautious, scared that Link would hate him for what he knew. “Did the princess trigger a vision?”

Link looked at his father with wide eyes. “What do you mean?”

Arn looked down at the floor and cleared his throat. He couldn’t hide anything from Link anymore. 

“In the countless legends of the past, the Hero had never run from his destiny.” Arn looked up at Link. “So, tell me. What happened, Link?”

Link’s heart was pounding out of his chest. He knew? He knew all this time and never told him? Link wanted desperately to be furious, but he knew he couldn’t. He knew he had to be grateful for even having a father, when most heroes before him had no family.

“You knew,” Link said as a statement more than a question.

“Yes. The Goddess spoke to your mother before your birth.”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” Link tried to sound angry, but the crack in his voice made him sound defeated. 

Arn looked at the floor once more and sighed. “I wanted to protect you, Link,” he admitted, “I knew it was wrong, probably even sinful to prevent you from knowing your fate.”

They both looked up at each other at the same time. “But I couldn’t bear losing you. I was selfish—I am selfish…”

“Father…”

“I’m sorry, Link." He looked at his son with glassy eyes. "I’m so, so sorry.”

Link broke out into tears again. “No. It's... It’s okay, father. I should be grateful that I have you.” Link paused. “I’ve never had a father before. I know in many of my past lives, I’ve had fathers who were knights, but I never met them.”

Arn furrowed his eyebrows and looked at Link.

“Your past lives?” Arn knew the incarnations of the Hero were granted visions of the past, but they weren’t supposed to remember that much, right?

“I…” Link started, “It wasn’t visions that the Princess triggered.” Link tightened his hug with Aryll, who was currently looking at Link with confused, teary eyes.

“I remember everything, father.” Link closed his eyes. “Everything. All of my lives. I could tell you what happened in every single one of them.”

Link paused and looked down at his sister, who looked back at him. Link smiled and ran his hand through Aryll’s hair. 

“Once, I had a sister named Aryll. We lived together on an island in the middle of a flooded world. She looks so much like her, father.” Link hugged her even tighter and buried his head in the crook of her neck.

Arn was speechless. He knew Link was supposed to have visions, but remembering? Remembering every life with such vivid detail?

“I’m sorry, father. I know it must be harder now to love a child who misses all of his past families,” Link said as he hugged his sister tighter.

Arn’s eyes widened, and he shook his head furiously. He put his hand on Link’s shoulder.

“No. Of course not,” Arn said softly, “Why would I abandon my son now when he needs me the most?”

Link looked up in surprise.

“Even if you remember everything, even if you think you belong in your past, you’re still my son. You will always be my son.”

With his father’s hand still on his shoulder, Link brought his hand up to Arn’s wrist and gave it a squeeze.

“Thank you, father,” Link said, his voice muffled by his sister’s hair, “Thank you for everything.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> and... this is where the work ended a year ago. i do have ideas for a third and fourth chapter, but i decided to end the piece here, as i wanted to focus more on link as a person rather than his relationship with zelda. but please lmk in the comments if you want the last two chapters!


End file.
